Graveyard Shift
by The Can-Can group
Summary: Going through the graveyard was a bad idea. Tree demons are out to eat them, zombies are roamin’ around, and old man Jenkins is sharpening his ax. Implied SxR. DISCONTINUED!
1. Sushine and Daisies

Disclaimer:

Meh… don't own KH (just like everyone else who writes fanfiction.)

Graveyard Shift

Chapter One: Sunshine and Daisies

Plot by: The Can-Can group

Warnings: There WILL be horror movie clichés sprinkled throughout here. Another thing to be on the look out for is hints of R/S (light shounen-ai). The last thing is that I'm NOT a Kairi basher, even though some things just might, maybe suggest it.

Summary: Going through the graveyard was a bad idea. Tree demons are out to eat them, zombies are roamin' around, and old man Jenkins is sharpening his ax.

0000

They should've known that taking the short cut through Graveyard Island was a bad idea. It was common knowledge amongst the youngsters of the island to not go into the home of the various dead… things. Even worse was to traverse during the Witch's Hour. Things happened during that period; trees turned into reedy monsters and demons waiting for children to walk into their clutches, and the graves were used a portals for the dead and undead. The most horrible of the horrors was the unnatural silence. It was close to being deafening.

Which is why it was a relief to hear Kairi opening her mouth, in spite of the fact that it was Kairi that was actually talking. "Guys…" Kairi, as per usual, was between the two boys, clutching their arms almost to the point where the circulation of blood was cut off. She shook as an owl howled softly, almost as if warning about the dangers they were about to go to. "I don't think…"

"Aw! Don't worry, Kairi," Sora grinned at the girl. "We'll protect you from the zombies-"

Kairi squeaked.

"-And vampires-"

Riku laughed.

"-And other nasty nightmarish-things."

The girl shook even harder and the circulation was completely cut off. Both boys immediately pulled their lifeless arms away from her. Sora, though, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder in loo of taking away her only source of comfort.

"We're almost there, look!" Riku waved a hand in direction of the gates marking the other entrance to the graveyard.

With the goal in sight, Kairi pulled the both of them to their exit, ignoring the protests of her friends. They quickly found out that they were locked in when Riku, being the strongest of the three, pulled on the metal bars of the gate. Kairi immediately began panicking. The small group was heading home from the movies after watching a horror movie (of course Tidus decided that they should play a few rounds of Blitzball before going home) and the anxiety and adrenaline returned to its circulating in the veins. She simpered and clenched her eyes closed.

Riku banged on the gate once more in high hopes of somehow getting the padlocks to magically fall off. They were new though and looked as if not even bar cutter would cut through the metal.

Kairi instantly clamped herself back onto Sora and whimpered.

"I forgot," Riku said over the cries with an apologetic look in Sora's direction. "That the island council instigated a new rule."

"When was this?" Asked Sora, his eyebrows wrinkled in confusion as he tired to remember when the new rule was announced.

"Last week. They decided to close the gates at eleven so that 'kids will stop using the cemetery as a short cut.'" The way that Riku's face scrunched up in disgust suggested that he didn't like the new rule at all.

"That's not far! It takes two hours to get around the 'yard!"

Riku slid into what Sora called his "constiplative" pose. (Sora had meant to say contemplative, but got a mouth fart as soon as his mouth opened up. It had been named thusly since.) This particular pose needed a wall or a something flat to lean upon- the bricks of the fence were choice object for this round. Riku would lean upon the surface, his back the only part of him touching it; his lower body carried the brunt of his weight. One arm crossed over the middle ribs and the left hand supported the elbow of the right. The right hand stopped in front of his mouth with his thumb supporting his chin. The eyes shifted right and left, as if looking at a paper filled with ideas and discarding them. Eyebrows furred and what little that could be seen of his mouth was set into a frown.

It took five minutes for him to slip out of the constiplative pose. "We could just climb over the fence."

Sora gave a pointed look towards the huddled mass attached to his arm.

"Right, sucky idea…"

A sprinkle of rain- in possibly the most clichéd way- started to fall, dampening their respective hairstyles.

Sora gave another pointed look, this time at his friend. "Fine! Next time, we'll get your mom to take us!"

The sprinkle quickly turned into real rain after that, coming down harder and harder. It didn't seem like it would let up anytime soon.

Wind started to blow, dropping the temperature down by several notches.

"Could've sworn that it was clear out," Riku muttered. According to the weather reports and the fuzzy caterpillars (weren't they used to tell how harsh winter was going to be?) it wasn't suppose to rain for another several days.

"What?" Sora questioned over the howl of the wind and the pounding sound of the rain as it hit the harden clay.

"Nothing!"

"We need to find shelter!"

"I know!" Riku pondered for a moment. He had one idea, but they'd need to knock Kairi out. For sure she would cry, struggle, complain, protest, scream bloody murder (etc.) about the spot that he had in mind.

But… he had no choice. Their visibility's getting shot straight to hell from all the rain. It was almost as if an opaque window was placed in front of their eyes. He was also afraid that their wet clothes might give them hypothermia or something worse. "Sora…!"

"Right here!" Sora's voice came from his front right- of course, right where they had stopped- and though he and Kairi were only a few feet away from him, it seemed like they were standing further away. The rain fell harder.

"Com' on." Riku grabbed the smaller boy's arm, scaring both Sora and Kairi as they were suddenly being tugged in a random direction without any warning. They stumbled a few steps, trying to catch up to the quick and long strides of Riku.

"Where-?"

"Hang on."

Riku squinted. Trying to find what he was looking for through the rain. He and his family had been there a few times before; it should be right around- ah ha! There it was! _IT_ was a dark mound springing forth from the ground. He increased the pace heading for the mound, ignoring the cries of protest from the two hijacked companions. Riku stopped in front of it upon making sure that it was the right mound. His hands felt the rotting wood as the two came close to plowing his back having suddenly losing their momentum. It seemed that he didn't notice. He was busy feeling around the object in front of them.

"Riku…?" Sora's voice was puzzled. "What're you-?"

"Gimme a moment." He's large hands continued their search, gripping at everything, but missing what they were looking for. He stepped a little to the side, hands trailing up and down until they finally were exposed to an old and rusted padlock. He pulled once to gauge just how much strength he would need and the angle he would have to pull at. Riku corrected his stance and pitched his weight forward before pulling back sharply.

It broke easier than expected.

He landed in mud as the padlock fell and splashed next to him.

The rotted door swung open.

And the earthy, moldy, death smell wafted and committed murder on their noses.

Sora bent down to offer help to his friend. "I don't think-"

Riku slapped the hand away and stood up. "Then don't. Just get inside."

When the two hesitated, the teen gave an exasperated sigh and pulled them in.

Whilst the other two were curiously looked around, trying to peer into the darkness, Riku rung out his hair and clothes, to the best of his ability, commanding the other two to do the same. Once the task was done, the younger two went back to looking around, trying to determine just why it smelt like death. Dirt fell from the ceiling whilst Riku pulled the door back in, almost to the point that the crack he left it at could make the door seemed closed.

"I wouldn't try to figure it out," Riku's soft and commanding voice whispered, almost respectful to… something. Like there was something else in the room that needed that respect.

Sora all but stormed towards his friend, face set in an upset pout. "Just where are we?"

Riku shook his head. "I'll tell you later, just right now… I don't wanna hear her," he whispered in a confidential tone. The one in reference was the huddled mass that reattached herself back unto Sora's arm. "…Screaming." He continued after the unsure pause. "Just come and sit over here." Riku planted himself onto the floor, after clearing an area to be devoid of any mice bones, right next to the door.

Sora hesitated for a second before moving to sit next to his friend. As soon as his butt hit the ground, legs stretched out in front of him and prepared to fold them into the Indian sit, Kairi planted her head onto his lap, gluttonizing the spot. Quickly her exhaustion overtook her and she fell into a slightly shuddering sleep.

Riku watched the display in disdain as Sora huffed and blushed, "Kairi!" he had exclaimed and shivered since her still wet hair wasn't doing much to dry his still damp shorts. "Couldn't you've taken my shoulder instead?"

The older teen gave a sigh before slipping his arms around Sora. His left arm wrapped it's way around the back of Sora's neck and landed on his shoulder, the right hand reached across the front and gripped just below it's partner. "Need to keep warm…" He explained upon the inquired look. It wasn't exactly the truth; he wanted a piece of Sora too.

"Right." Sora pulled his own arms to move themselves and land on Riku's cold and shivering arms. They both shifted until Sora was in a position that could support Kairi's head and still be in the warmth of Riku's embrace.

It sorta felt like cuddling. Something that boys their age, especially with each other, did not do.

Only little kids did things like that. Like when they used to have a sleepover when the power was out and the storm was so bad that one of them, pending whose house it was, just had to spend the night since the other's parents didn't feel like taking someone back to their proper home. During nights such as those, they'd huddle under the blanket and pretended that the flash of light was just enemy canons going off, aimed to hit their fort. But, when the thunder rolled around, they'd squish themselves together and waited with baited breath for it to stop.

Riku never publicly admitted that he was afraid of the storms; that the only reason they both huddled under the blanket was so that he wouldn't feel so alone. Sora was the one who loved the strange pattern lightening had when it fell from the sky with a crack. The way it light up the sky into differentiating colors. The way that made everything seem so otherworldly. Riku never saw what was so great; he was generally hiding under something to really notice.

It seemed like ages since their last sleepover.

(In all actuality, their last one was just the week before.)

"…In a crypt." Riku wasn't aware that his mouth was moving before the words were out and about.

Sora blinked and careened his neck to look towards Riku, the look of confusion apparent. "Come again?"

"Were in," Riku's voice lowered to a whisper, making it next to impossible to hear his next words, he was sure of it. "A crypt."

However, Sora had heard anyway and if it weren't for the fact that Riku was hold him down, Kairi would've been awoken very rudely.

"What were you thinking!" Sora shouted in a quiet whisper.

"This is one of the old burial spots for my family, one of the older ones," Riku ignored the question; it should be rather obvious to the reason he dragged them there. "My parents used to drag me here to pay respects to our ancestors. One of the original settlers is buried here. Dad said that our family is perhaps the only one that can trace its roots back to them."

"You're ignoring my question."

Riku sighed. "I was worried that we might get sick, had to get out of the rain as soon as possible and this was the only thing I could think of. Once it stops raining, we'll leave."

Riku cracked open the door and they peeked out. Nope, still raining. They sighed.

"Should we really be allowing her to sleep?" Sora asked, slightly worried since Kairi's cheeks were starting to flush and her breathing became just short of erratic.

"Probably not."

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Damn." Riku muttered as another, slightly stronger one rolled in.

"Can we make a run for it to the old house?"

The children of Destiny Islands, as with anything, regard the old house as something to fear. To explain, first there must be an understanding of the contents of the island. It is called Graveyard Island for it is just that, an island with the dead as it's only population (and its caretaker). This island was the original landing spot for the settlers and when they spread out to the other islands, it became the home of the first few Mayors. The last one to live there was killed. So, as per usual, his spirit haunts the place. A while after, people left and it became a cemetery, the only one for the group of islands.

"I don't want to go there," replied Riku. "It creeps me out."

"I know, but it'll give us better protection than… this place. It might even have towels or something for us to use."

"Hundred year-old towels, exactly what I want to use to dry off."

Louder thunder and lightening danced its way from the skies. Riku tensed and pressed himself closer to Sora. "You're being irrational," Sora mentioned softly, trying to not sound like he was condescending on his friend.

"I know."

They grinned and chuckled softly.

The boys chatted quietly, talking about menial things, such as Riku's latest job that he was fired from (got into a fist fight with a customer, said that the other guy was just askin' for it) to Sora's fight yesterday with Tidus ("He went 'whoosh' and I went 'HA!' and then we went 'Bam!'" This was accompanied with a few excited hand gestures.).

Sora was still talking when Riku turned his head. He frowned as his eyes caught something through the crack between the door and its frame. Might've been a headstone that he hadn't noticed before? But that isn't right. Riku has a photographic memory, that object was definitely not there before. It also looked as if-

"And then I went- Hey! What's wrong?" Sora cast another worried look towards Riku.

"Shush," Riku responded, putting up a forefinger up to his mouth for emphasis.

- The object was swaggering and swaying.

"Riku…"

"Quiet," Riku ordered, turning his head to glare at his friend. Slowly, not taking his eyes off Sora, he turned his head back to the long and thin opening. His eyes following suit just as slowly. _It's gone._

"What's gone?"

Riku blinked, wasn't aware that he had said something. "Nothing, I thought I saw something, but it might've been just a mirage."

"I thought mirages existed only in deserts…"

Riku shrugged. "How should I know?"

"This leads us back to the original question, what did you see?"

"I all ready told you, I thought I saw something, but it turned out to be nothing."

They both shivered. Sora shook his head to get rid of the thoughts of horror stories he had heard, not wantiSng to make the connections between the stories and what was happening. Riku laughed nervously. Nothing's wrong, nothing at all.

… But even that thought was unsure.

Sora laid his head onto Riku's shoulder, obviously exhausted and tired (it was pretty close to twelve) from the day's excursions. His breath came out as a happy sigh and his eyelids fluttered close. "Gimme ten minutes, m'kay?" Sora fell asleep right after the words left his lips.

Riku just stared.

And stared.

"Riiight," the elder of the two muttered. "I'll wake you up in ten minutes and you'll beg for another ten. The cycle will continue on. You sleep like a rock."

Sora, for he was deep in sleep, didn't make a response.

Just watching the two sleeping and snoring (Sora's was louder, but Riku knew that Kairi snored too, from all the sleepovers the three had as kids) made him sleepy. When he noticed that he was about to nod off, he'd pinch himself. It was a great idea in theory, but one can't pinch yourself awake when you're sleeping. Sleep came swiftly.

He felt disoriented when he snapped his eyes open a few minutes later. He didn't even notice that he fell asleep and since it was still dark out and still raining, he couldn't tell what time it was.

This lead to the next question, what had awoken him up? Riku had always been a very light sleeper; it only took a change in the environment for something to bring him back to reality. He glance towards Sora and Kairi, neither had moved, except for the girl for she was in a different position than when he last saw her, but he was pretty sure that wasn't the cause. Since it was neither of the two… Riku peered into the darkness of the crypt, nothing there either. But something… something was completely off.

He looked up, back to the crack of the door and its jamb. An eye peered back and a body was obstructing the view of the graveyard.

Riku's mouth fitted into a silent "oh!" as his face turned the palest of pale. He let out a short scream and stumbled up, the startled cries of his companions not quite reaching his ears as he dragged them a few feet a way from the peering eye, into the darkness of the crypt. He took a defensive stance in front of his friends and glared at the intruder. "Get back!" He yelled. "I'm not afraid of you!"

The eye narrowed a bit and the door opened up a bit more, revealing another eye and more of the body. Images filtered through their minds, mostly from the stories and movies that often played during the summertime. Most were of zombies biting someone heads off, others were of vampires and demons ripping their victims limb from limb and drinking the fluids. The stories were there for entertainment, it was never meant to become reality. This thought caused fear to spread.

Out of the corner of his eye, Riku noticed Kairi scooting backwards, not paying attention to where her feet were stepping. She tripped on a crack in the ground and fell onto an old box. It gave leeway and broke. Landing on her butt, neither boy were surprised to hear her screaming as soon as the bony hands touched hers and the skeletal face smiled back. A minute of sensory overload caused her to faint, after screaming helplessly for a minute.

The figure moved quickly past the boys, moving to the fallen girl. Images of a demon eating (a virgin). Images of vampires sucking blood. Etc. "Get away from her!" Riku was surprised to hear the words coming from his mouth. While he didn't hate the girl, he also didn't like her. His hands grabbed onto the figure's shoulder and pulled it back. "Did you hear a-"

"Shit!" The figure shouted. "What y'all do to her?" The figure pulled himself out of Riku's hold and went back to checking out Kairi.

Sora blinked. "Mr. Jenkins?"

"Yeah!" The man tentatively touched her forehead. "Damn, she has a fever. And why didn't you tell her that you're in a crypt!"

"Because she would've screamed even louder!" Riku shouted back defensively (adrenaline still coursing through his veins, still on a high).

"Oh, and what was that display? That ain't no singin'. You should've come to my house."

Sora stepped between Riku and the man; he's the caretaker of the cemetery, the only person living on the island. He had to stopped Riku from jumping the man as said person was picking up Kairi. "We're sorry. We didn't expect the gates to be closed, or the sudden downpour."

"Whatever," the man stood up to his full height and pushed past the two boys. "Yer all comin' with me. Need to get y'all out of those wet clothes and get her fever under control." His voice was commanding and left no room for arguments.

Riku and Sora had no choice but to follow after. "That was…"

"… Rather anti-climatic."

"Exactly."

………

The caretaker has his own house stationed next to the old one, for even he dares not spend more time than is necessary in the house. Being the only one living in his house, or on the island for that fact in matter, the house is small and rather cramp.

"Riku, shift your knee!" Sora banged his knee against Riku's to make his point.

"I can't. The leg of the table's in the way."

"Then hack it off!"

"Can't. It's rather rude, don't you think?"

"Coming from the same person who didn't tell us about the crypt. Besides, I was talking about your leg."

"Hey! I was doing what I thought was best! And you-"

The old man seemed to finally have enough and turned around from the stove with an angry glare all ready in place. "It's been twenty minutes and you two are all ready at it! Will you shut up! You're gonna wake 'er up!" Kairi's position was in the bedroom on the second floor, but the floors are flimsy and sounds carry very well through out the old house.

The two boys lowered their heads guiltily and didn't say a thing afterwards.

The kettle whistled loudly, piercing the sudden silence of the small kitchen. Mr. Jenkins turned off the stove and poured the tea into the cups all ready stationed next to the old gas stove. He limped to the table and slammed the cups onto the table. "'Ere! Drink up, it's an old recipe, suppose to cure the chills."

Riku and Sora tentatively picked up the cups, grimaced at the smell, held their breaths, and downed the hot drink.

The old man smiled. "Good, ain't it?"

Their eyes gave a slight twitch as the drink burned its way down to their stomachs. Keeping their mouths closed was all they could do from barfing it all up. Once the initial burn died down and the after taste drowned out by the biscuits (provided by the old man) they smiled and nodded. "Will even make my mother cry," Riku replied. He didn't mention that his mother would cry from the sheer horrible taste.

"Next time I visit mom, I shall tell 'er 'bout your approval." The old man gave a grin, the boys tried to ignore the lack of several teeth and the few left that were discolored. Mr. Jenkins took a sip from his own cup and smiled again. "Mom was right about using brains as 'erbs-"

The boys spit the liquids back into the cups and grabbed handfuls of biscuits to be stuffed into their mouths.

"- Just kiddin'!" Mr. Jenkins gave an uproarious laugh at their faces. "Bit of cemetery humor. Don't get many people 'ere that visits for one reason or 'nother." In other words, he was hyper and joking was the only way to get the energy out.

"Jeez," Riku restrained from yelling obscenities. "Not about food, please!"

The old man waved the comment off. "Y'all need to loosen up."

"It's raining outside. Mom's probably worried and ready to kill me. I'm in a midget sized house, and you want me to do what?" Riku glared at Mr. Jenkins. "I'll loosen up once I get home, thank you very much."

The old man shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"Riku!" Sora leaned his head next to Riku's and whispered.

The older of the two scowled. "What?"

"You're being rude."

Riku glared, leaned back into his chair, and angrily drunk some more of the tea, suddenly remembering that he took a mental vow to not drink anymore of the stuff. He grimaced as it hit his stomach like a nuclear warhead on a city.

"If you want to call your parents, phone's in the 'allway. Tell them that your goin' to be staying 'ere till the storm's over."

Riku stared in aghast. He did not want to spend more time than necessary in the little house, especially with a creepy old man that could pass off as a murderer, nor did he want to stay on the Graveyard Island. Damn movie.

Mr. Jenkins saw the look of disgust and horror on Riku's face and shrugged. "It's either that or 'aving to swim back. The ferry doesn't run this late and even if it did they wouldn't ferry during a storm."

Riku scowled and slammed the cup down onto the table. The chair scrapped heavily against the floor as he pushed it back. "Fine, I'll go call them," he ignored the gleeful look of triumph on the man's face. Turning to Sora he asked, "Do you want me to call your parents too?"

Sora nodded, unable to make a verbal response because of the biscuit in his mouth.

Riku ambled around the table, being careful to not bump into the table and its occupants. Upon walking out into the hallway, he spotted the phone and gave it a curious glance. "How do you use it?" He called out, walking over to the phone hanging innocently on the wall.

"Pick up the ear piece, dial the number for the operator, and ask for the person you want to connect to."

Riku eyes the phone warily. The phone itself is an antique. Wooden base, uses an old fashioned dialer (round disk with holes cut into it), mouth piece attached to the base and the ear resting on two prongs. The type of phone popular a few generations ago, before the rise of cell phones. Riku shook his head as he picked up the earpiece. He dialed the number for the operator, however the usual _Briiing Briiing Briiing _tone, generally associated with ringing for the other end of the line, wasn't there. "I think it's broken."

Mr. Jenkins cursed. "Damn it, that thing's always breakin'. Oh well, you're still staying here until the storm's over."

Riku muttered a few choice words under his breath before rejoining the two in the kitchen.

"We're going to be sleeping in the guestroom with Kairi," Sora announced. "That way she won't freak out completely if we're there with her when she wakes up."

"Sounds good," Riku replied. A small part of him, though, wasn't too keen on the idea; perhaps it was even jealous that Sora was worried about Kairi. He gave a fake yawn- although it turned real halfway through. "I'm going to go to bed now."

"Door across from the stairs," Mr. Jenkins gave a toothless grin. "Do you want me to show you?"

Riku shook his head. "No, thanks, I can manage on my own."

Sora gave a reassuring smile. "I'll be up in a few."

"Right." With that, the older teen left the kitchen and headed up stairs. Said stairs creaked underneath his weight, complaining about the pressure being put upon them and gave relieved sighs after a foot was picked up.

Once up on the second floor, he quickly found the door leading to the guestroom and entered. Kairi's soft snores greeted him. Fearful of waking her up, he didn't turn on the lights and stood in the doorway, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Lightning cracked, illuminating the room, and giving him just enough time to see the path to the bed. Riku strode over and gently laid himself on top of the quilt. Turning onto his side, Riku found a comfortable position and quickly allowed sleep to claim him.

………

Riku woke up, for the second time that night, to have a feeling like something was off. The light that was barely visible from the hallway was gone (the two must've went to bed) and the house had gained a silent sound. His eyes wandered over to the window where he had the perfect view of the old house.

Lightning flashed and he could've sworn he saw someone staring back at him from one of the rooms. Before his mind could process it, the flash was gone and he became surrounded in darkness.

Going through the cemetery was probably the worst ideas ever.

0000

Notes:

I got this idea from one of the prompts my English teacher had given us for SOL practice. (Although the one that I did was "It was a road out in the middle of nowhere…" I made it all abstract and everything.) And I'm tentatively putting this up since I'm slightly scared of reactions, but I'm not sure whose though.

This fanfic is going to be (hopefully) twisted. However, I will say that I'm not very good with the whole suspense thing; hell, I don't watch any horror movies because I'm a huge chicken. The horror parts are the clichés of the stereotypical horror movie, mostly from things that I think I heard.

I'm sorry if I made Riku and Kairi seem OOC. I shall try harder to make them like they're supposed to be.

Updates will sporadic. Don't expect the next chapter up for awhile and don't ask me to hurry up. Lowers my self-esteem when I just get an "Update! ASAP! Or else!"

One last thing, if you have negative criticism, please give reasons and suggestions. I do not want any flames. They will cause me to sink even further in depression (seriously, I have depression and even take meds for it.) and cause me to take even more time to update cause then I need to recuperate and etc.

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Just wanna use me for target practice? Just hit the purple button and off you go!

The Can-Can group


	2. Perforated Monkey Meat

Disclaimer:

I have no claims to Kingdom Hearts. At all. Belongs to the respective owners. Who aren't me…

Graveyard Shift

Chapter Two: Perforated Monkey Meat

Plot by: The Can-Can group

Warnings: More implied shounen-ai. Don't like don't read.

Chapter summary: They should've known that going through the graveyard was a bad idea. Aliens are abducting the villagers, vampires are killing cows, and Old Man Jenkins is finally finished sharpening the ax.

0000

Riku stared out of the window. "Great," he muttered as he stepped out of the creaky bed and planting his feet onto the even more creaky floor. "My eyes are playing tricks on me." Must've been the tea, Riku figured. Certainly tasted badly enough to do something like make him sees mirages.

Shaking his head, which caused the silver wisps to get in his face, Riku tiptoed to the door. He cringed at the loud creaking and groaning of the door. Hesitatingly, he turned to see if he had awoken either occupants of the room. When Kairi's soft snores returned to his ears, Riku deemed it safe enough to push himself through the small crack he created between the door and the jamb.

Quietly, he walked down the steps, wincing at the usual stair sounds. He briefly wondered why old houses always had to have noises. Made for (he didn't want to use "sneaking" but it seemed like the correct word to use) sneaking around rather difficult.

His sock covered foot reached the middle step when a horrifyingly loud noise made him nearly fall down the stairs after jumping slightly. It sounded something akin to a monster mating with its ugly girlfriend. Probably even worst than that. It sounded more like the noise his great aunt made when she used the toilet. He gave a shudder at the memory of having to visit the old bat.

The noise echoed along the house, making Riku wonder just how much of heavy sleepers his two friends were. The sound reached the end of its crest and the beginning of its valley, leaving another unnatural silence. Riku took a cautious step down and another. On the third step, the sound came back with another roar. He didn't jump as high that time.

By the time he reached the main floor, Riku realized the sound was rhythmic and was coming from the living room, located right of the stairs. With more caution, he poked his head around the corner to investigate.

The noise, as most would've figured by now, was Mr. Jenkins's own snoring. He felt relieved and oddly disappointed at the same time. He had forgotten that the three friends had taken the only bedroom in the house and the old man decided that he would just take the couch in the living room.

"Riku!"

Said boy jumped when his name was called from behind his unsuspecting person. "Holy crap!" He shouted as he turned towards the equally surprised (more at Riku's reaction than anything else) Sora. "What is up with people coming from behind me!" He almost said scare him, but Riku didn't want to admit that he was scared.

"I've been calling your name several times all ready. I was also standing in front of you when you came down the stairs."

"Oh…"

Sora sighed.

Riku then blinked. His eyes, having been adjusted to the darkness, noticed the drenched spikes of his friend's hair. "You were outside."

Sora nodded. "I noticed before going to bed that I had lost my necklace." He took out the muddy crown necklace from a pocket and showed it to Riku.

"Where did you lose it?"

"The crypt," Sora gave a sigh of relief. "I thought I nearly lost it…" If he had, Sora would've made Riku look for it until they found it. Of course, Riku wouldn't have complained about searching for it. Sora's dad had given it to him when he was four, a few years before he had disappeared. If Riku had lost such a memento, he'd be on the warpath of finding it.

"One more thing…" Sora pulled Riku into the nearby kitchen, away from the old man to not wake him up. "The door of the Old House was wide open. On my way back, I went in to check it out-"

"Huh?"

Sora grinned. "You would not believe all the stuff in there! It's really amazing!" He spoke in an excited tone, revering the place as if it held buried treasure underneath the floorboards.

Riku instantaneously grabbed his friend's arms. "Did you see anyone else in there?" He tightened the hold when the image of the dark figure floated its way into his mind.

"Ouch! Leggo of me!" Sora pulled himself out of the grasp and rubbed his arms to numb the pain. Glaring, he asked, "What was that for?"

Riku gave Sora an apologetic look. "How far did you go in? Did you go upstairs?"

"No, I got as far as the main foyer before the front door started to bang itself against the jamb," Sora gave a slight shiver. "I got scared and ran. Why?"

Riku visibly paled. If it wasn't Sora up on the second floor, then there has got to be someone else on the island aside the four of them (and the dead people). He forced himself to not freak out as he breathlessly replied, "I think there's someone else here." Riku explained what he had seen upstairs. "I might've just been imagining things though. There was a flash of lightening at the same time."

Sora snorted. "You'd be the strongest guy on the island if you'd just get over that fear."

"I know that!" Riku spited out with a glare. "I've been trying to get over it! So, stop patronizing me!" Riku rarely raised his voice at Sora; much less actually get angry with him. But he really disliked it when Sora pointed out that he needed to change. Both got defensive during such arguments though. The natural pattern would be Sora mentioning Riku's phobia and Riku, in turn, would jab at Sora's bed wetting days. Sora then would make fun of Riku's tendency of jumping to conclusions whereas Riku would mock Sora's (endearing, not that Riku would say that aloud) spacey disposition and short attention span. Sora would become insulted and revert back to the most basic of verbal fighting techniques.

"You… You idiot jock!"

Riku took his turn to snort. "Great comeback. I bet Tidus taught you that one." Tidus was well known for being the worst name caller. "I'm not even a jock."

"At least he's not afraid of storms!"

Throwing up his hands, Riku shouted, "And we're back to this! You're not perfect either! I know that you pick your nose when no one's around!"

Sora glared and readied his fists. "I do not! I-"

"What the fuck are you shit heads yellin' about!" Mr. Jenkins ambled his way in, angry that his sleep had been interrupted.

Old man Jenkins was not a native of the islands. From what the kids learned from the gossip amongst the adults, he had left home from the continent (exact reason unknown) when he had barely reached his twenties. He had learned the slang of their language before learning Proper. As a result, he slipped into the slang, noticeably, a few times when he's emotional. Now, one can tell when he's really upset when he throws in his native tongue. "When I get mah 'ands on you, I'm gonna _su'tch ile fra'n_ and _skillsh ile skin_ with an effin' _spook_!"

The two boys blinked. They only know a few words, but since he threw in slang with the Proper and mixed in his own native tongue the effect that old man Jenkins was certainly going for was lost.

Old man Jenkins took twenty seconds to calm himself down. "Okay, now what do you have to say for yer selfs?"

"For what?" Sora asked innocently (or trying to, the look on his face was too false to be convincing).

Jenkins glared. "For wakin' me the hell up! That's what!"

Sora pondered. "I lost my necklace and Riku thought he saw something-"

"Where?" Jenkins turned to Riku with an imploring look on his face. "Was it in the house?"

Riku nodded, albeit unsurely. He went on to tell Jenkins about the shadow on the second floor.

Jenkins cursed when the narrative finished. "Must be those kids again. I swear! I thought the idiot council instigated that new rule to keep them out!" He walked over to the closet and opened it. "Listen, I'm goin' to have to go over. Stay here until I get back." Jenkins pulled out a raincoat and a waterproof flashlight. A club shaped walking stick soon followed after. "To scare those kids off," He explained seeing the confused looks of Riku and Sora. He grinned. "They run when they see an old guy with a huge club." Jenkins pulled on an old pair of boots and left.

"Back to bed or wait up?" Riku asked, tapping his foot onto the floorboards with agitation.

Sora took the time to ponder. "Let's stay, just in case."

In case of what? Riku wanted to ask, but Sora had all ready migrated to the living room to sit down on the couch. Riku sat down next to him after relocating the blankets that Mr. Jenkins had left behind.

"Do you think there's something there?" Sora wondered, directing the question towards Riku. He turned pensive when Riku shrugged.

Riku wasn't sure if he even saw something. He placed a hand to his forehead and clenched his eyes. It had crossed his mind earlier that he might've had a hallucination. It wouldn't be the first time that his mind had him seeing things that weren't there. IE. When he was eight, Riku swore that he saw the walls covered in dirt. Upon having told his mother, she freaked out and scrubbed the walls with such a ferocity that it had taken her twenty minutes to realize that she had been wearing down the all ready clean wallpapers. His mom had ground him for a week, even though he promised that he wasn't lying.

Other times included seeing dark, swimming shadows in the bathtub, a murderer (just a business man) carrying an ax, and demon birds always watching, always chasing, ready to peck his eyes out (turns out that they were just tropical birds).

Unlike most others who frequently hallucinated, Riku could tell the difference between an episode of mind tricks and reality. This helped out when Sora was scared because of a misconception his brain cocked up. Riku would often be the one who would say, "it's just a tree…" or "why are you scared of a rock formation?" and, "That wasn't a monster, that was my dad!"

"You okay?" Riku leaned back up, not realized that he had bent forward so that his forehead was touching his knee. Sora given him a curious and worried look, "You look like you're getting ready to die."

"Yes," Riku agreed jokingly. "This is an ancient technique passed down the family for praying to the god of death for a quick and swift death and to bring honor to the family."

"Yanno, if it weren't for the fact that you're atheistic and you don't care about honor ("I do to!") I'd completely believe you."

Riku waved a careless hand. "Details, details. But yes, I'm fine. Nothing wrong here."

Sora, although not appearing to believe Riku, backed off, but in a manner that suggested that he wouldn't just let go completely.

A grandfather clock rung three times. The noise loud, but calming, echoed and shook the air until it dissipated. "It's so late…" Sora muttered. "I hadn't realized-" The rest of the sentence was cut off by a loud yawn that escaped from his mouth.

Riku pulled up the fallen blanket. "Here," he said as he passed it to Sora. The younger boy smiled gratefully, pulling the blanket over his lap and curling himself in. A breath of contentment released itself.

The unnatural silence pushed it's way back in. Even the tick-tocking of the clock and Sora's light sighs did nothing to stifle the loud silence. Choked ness swelled up inside Riku and a depressed feeling made him want to cry for no reason at all. How stupid, he mentally scoffed, to get so nervous over nothing.

Sora's feet, stationed against Riku's thigh, twitched uncontrollably whilst he let out heavy panting. Riku chuckled before leaning over Sora's whimpering body and whispering, "Run away! It's coming after you! Run!" He laughed as Sora whimpered even louder. "Its…" He blinked when he saw the tears washing out of Sora's eyes. "Sora?"

"Daddy!" Sora cried out. His hands grasped the blanket hysterically and pulled it in different directions. "Wait! Come-!" He cried out again and again. Sobbing and gasping, muttering this and that.

Riku shook himself out of the daze and grasped Sora's shoulders, shaking them harshly. "Wake up!"

Sora's eyes flashed open and leaned up, almost butting heads with Riku. "DADDY!" He screamed out. His voice was loud and shrill. Tears still rolled down after Sora closed his mouth after his brain caught up with his subconscious. Sora's shuddering breaths covered up the echo, which would go on forever in their ears.

"Sora?" Riku pulled his friend into his embrace, placing a hand on his back. Sora leaned in further, clenched his shirt, and sobbed.

"A demon ate him!" Riku had to translate the muttered/incoherent words. "A demon… A demon… A demon… Why?"

Guilt flittered upon Riku. He should've never tried to influence his friend's mind like he had. Why did he always have to do something so stupid? Damn. He pulled Sora in further- having learned that it was possible to do so. "I don't know," Riku muttered into the hair spikes located scenic Sora's Ear. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"

They stayed hunched together, even after Sora fell asleep - with Riku soon after - and even after Mr. Jenkins's arrival back, complaining about something that didn't reach their minds. They slept and slept. Riku dreamt about lightning and zombies everywhere, eating him, chewing, drinking, sucking, destroying. Him. Sora had all ready joined their legions and was the first to bite him. He made Riku ignore the pain of being eaten alive by touching him and making him gasp and groan and whimper with each sure touch. (When Riku would wake up, he desperately tried to forget what happened after that first touch…).

Sora, on the other hand, dreamt of a large, dirty crown that he scrubbed and scrubbed, but wouldn't become clean. He used cleaning solutions, electronic scrubs, even iron mesh, but the mud and caked on dirt just wouldn't come off. It had gotten to the point where the dirt actually bled like skin that was scrubbed raw. The blood got all over his hands and clothes. He realized then that the blood was his and then it was Mr. Jenkins's, then Kairi's, then Riku's, and countless others until the world was drowned in the red fluid and the only ones left was Sora and his father asking, "Why? Why? Why did you do it?" and Sora not having an answer. Everything disappeared, to be forgotten, when Riku shook him awake.

Riku ginned at Sora's jumbled wake up talk, which most consisted of: "Mm… jurgle… mugh… urh… sploosh." And was aided by Sora's confused and sleepy look as sun hit his eyes from the living room window. Sora eventually gained his bearings and glared at Riku with a "huh? Whachu laughin' at?" type of look.

"Breakfast is ready," Riku replied through the chuckles. "After you're done, we're leaving." He helped Sora get up and out of the couch and lead him to the kitchen where Kairi and the old man was all ready finished with their food.

"Sora!" Kairi let out a fit of childish giggles upon seeing his mused up spike-hair and slightly pouty look.

Riku picked up the plate of pancakes and deposited them in front of Sora. "Eat up."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "Now who's patronizing who?" A clear reference to the argument from the night before.

"Shuddup and eat," Riku ordered, sitting down at the cramped table and leaning his head forward to hide the embarrassed blush on his face. Riku always did hate having his words thrown back into his face. Especially by those who are younger than him. He sulked for two minutes before Kairi pulled him into a conversation about the festival that was to be coming in two days. He forgot about sulking when he remembered last year's festivities and the amount of fun they had.

Sora finally finished eating and Kairi completed her glass of the (sour) orange juice. Mr. Jenkins gave each of them a huge hug and made them promise to come back and visit him sometime (so as to keep him from "feeling too lonely"). With a wave of the hands, the old door was closed and they were off.

The sun shinned brightly in a way associated after hard rains where everything seemed fresh, luminous, and clear of clouds. Giant puddles on the ground reflected the brightness of the morning.

"Eww!" Kairi let out as she pulled her shoe out of the mud. "I just got these!"

Sora grinned. "Remember when you used to play in the mud? You were always the first one to jump in."

Kairi sent Sora a rather uncharacteristic glare. "That was Tidus. I've always hated mud."

Riku had a memory where he and Sora were playing mud war. Kairi had been looking on with forlorn, even though she had replied, when asked, that she "didn't want to ruin her hair," or "my adoptive parents will get angry." That thought made Riku frown. Was Kairi always like that, wanting to be a part of something, but denying it? Did she ever feel jealousy? Like he had when she monopolizes Sora?

The other two noticed his frown and asked him what was wrong.

"Nothing," Riku replied, shaking his head. "Do either one of you-"

Annoyance flittered into Sora's demeanor. "That is starting to get on my nerves…"

Riku blinked and asked what Sora was talking about.

Miffed, Sora replied, "Every time I ask about your well being, you brush off the question and change the subject. I don't ask for much-"

"Bull!"

"- but just once- and it isn't bull- I want a straight, truthful answer. Now… What is wrong?"

"Not a fuckin' thing is friggin' wrong!" Riku shouted, fists clenched and face flushed from irritation and slight anger. Kairi, having never seen one of Riku's out bursts, instinctively scooted to stand behind Sora (not that would do much if he and Riku were to duke it out, Riku was the strongest fighter after all). Riku saw the slight fear and winced. He turned around and counted to ten, taking deep breaths along the way, before facing his friends. "Look, I apologize for yelling. I'm just anxious about something and you getting on my case isn't helping me."

"What?" Sora's voice was soft and uncertain, as if ready for Riku to blow up again.

Riku shrugged. "That's the thing. I have no clue. I keep on thinking that I'm hallucinating and I keep on getting distracted by minor things."

"Like what?"

"… Just little things," Riku lied.

Sora, Riku was grateful for, didn't press the subject further, much like he did the night before, and continued walking. They passed the crypt with Kairi (and Sora even) shivering at the foreboding aura from the large mound.

The gate came into view and much to their relief as they walked up to the iron structure; it was unlocked and open, ready to be walked through by three teens. They all felt a sense of being let out of jail or captivity as soon as their sneaker feet touched the dirt road on the other side of the gate. Each glanced at each other and laughed nervously.

Just down the dirt road stood a small shack sized building. This is the second ferry station. A hurricane two years prior had wiped out its processor. The old one was more huge than necessary—only mourners visited the island—and when decision time came around, it was decided to just build a smaller station. Thusly, there were no benches put in place. Thusly, the three hung out on the concrete dock.

All three were sitting down. Sora sat cross-legged and chatting about the type of punishments that they would be suffering through. Riku had his legs hanging over the edge and crossed at the ankle, leaning forward and listening to Sora and staring at the waves as the crashed against everything. Kairi sat across from Sora and added her two cents worth in every once-in-a-while.

"They're probably gonna feed me to the lions," Sora commented. "And then ground my chewed up left over pieces…"

Kairi scrunched up her face in distaste. "That's bringing up a really bad mental picture. Mine are probably just going to blow their tops at me for awhile."

"Here comes the ferry," Riku announced, standing up. Sora and Kairi followed suit, although they jumped up excitedly from their respective spots. Like children, they screamed out, "it's here! It's here!" And did dances and jigs with their happy words.

The ferry took ten minutes to chug its way to the dock. They each pulled out their passes and showed the plastic to the conductor. Sora led the group to the back of the boat and sat down on a wooden bench. Riku sat across, both sitting next to the window. Kairi stood in the aisle glancing from Sora to Riku, trying to decide if she wanted to sit next to Sora and bask in his presence or sit kiddy corner and stare at his presence. She sat next to him.

"So," Sora started off, trying to break the silence. "What did you all think of last night?"

"Scary!"

"A badly done cliché."

Sora blushed. "I thought it was kinda fun…"

Riku raised an eyebrow. Sora thought that staying in a crypt, getting the pants scared off of them by an old man that wasn't even trying to be scary, and stupid old houses were fun. Riku had to wonder about Sora. His overactive imagination will be the death of him one of those days. "You're crazy."

The teen in question grinned. "Probably. Everyone keeps on saying that so it must be true."

"Sora's not-!" Kairi, as per usual, jumped to Sora's defense, but paused. "-Okay, so maybe he is. But not as much as everyone makes him out to be."

Actually, Riku thought absentmindedly while chuckling at Kairi, if anyone's close to being insane it would be him, Riku. The one who hallucinated shadows, noises, and possibly even this reality? That made him pause. Was everything real? Was Sora, the childish teen, really sitting across from him? Was Kairi a figment that everyone else could talk to? Was the world created for him? Or was he created for the world?

_Was he dreaming of the butterfly?_

_Or was the butterfly dreaming of him?_

"Getting too philosophical." Riku muttered.

"Are you contemplating about whether or not if pineapples are the king of fruit?" Sora asked, laughing and grinning. "That's what I would be thinking about."

"Nah," Replied Riku. "I was thinking about how sand used to be those huge pieces of rock that had been broken off and worn down until they reached their current size." He hated lying to Sora, felt like he was betraying the trust they had. "It's amazing to think the amount of time it took to get them to that size."

Kairi giggled (just like a girl who wanted in on the action would, thought Riku, slightly miffed). "Tee hee, you're so weird. No one thinks about those things."

"I do!" Piped up the younger teenage boy. "I think about words and things. Like 'island'. There's a 's' but you don't hear it. And like how 'Earth' sounds so simple of a name of a planet that sustains us all. It deserves more. And the human spirit. Where does it go?"

"What do you mean?" Confusion trampled onto Kairi's face. "I thought that the spirit just left and went to where ever."

Riku jumped into the conversation, explaining for Sora. "What he means is that energy can't be created nor destroyed. So, where does the electrical impulses go when one dies?"

"Exactly," said Sora. "But it's too confusing to think about things like that. Therefore, I try to not dwell on it. Otherwise, my brain gets fried and I end up changing the subject."

Yep. Nothing wrong with the statement, "changing the subject." Never mind that Sora treated his thoughts as conversations. At least we all learned a little something about each other, reflected Riku. Kairi is… annoying in high dosages. Sora can be philosophical. And Riku, he had strange dreams about zombies and being eaten by Sora and then making out with zombie Sora. And then doing "other things" with zombie Sora that made Riku blush, even though he was never one for blushing. He really did not want to think about the run to the bathroom that morning and how quiet he had to be.

Such things should never be thought of when on a boat, with no bathroom and your two friends right across from you.

"So," Riku shifted slightly. "I think we were discussing the festival this weekend. Same place, same hour?"

They all knew that he meant the usual time and place for meeting that they had each year.

"Depends if we're dead or not after last night's stunt." Sora said. Kairi nodded with a "what he said" look. "But since the festival uses everyone…" He trailed off, unsure, but hoping.

"If it comes to you not getting out, I'll sneak into your house and visit you." Riku assured Sora with a pat on the spiky head.

Kairi nodded enthusiastically and announced that she would come over too. "I could never bear to leave my children all by themselves!"

"So," Riku replied, eye lids half-mast and slightly glaring. The small smile ruined the illusion though. "We're your children now are we?"

"Yep. Sora's the daughter-"

"Hey! Since when do I resemble anything as a girl?"

"- And you are the unruly son."

Still insulted, Sora asked, "Well, what type of mother would you be?"

The girl pondered on that question for a bit. "I would be the type of mother that would die for you—both of you—but at the same time I would be a bad mother. I'd play favorites. Mostly for Sora since he's the good daughter who is remorseful and wouldn't cause me to grow my gray hairs early."

"What about Riku? Why wouldn't he be your favorite?" Sora asked, with a joking look on his face that says "hah! I finally have something over you!"

Kairi blinked. "He'd be my secret favorite. My unruly son. The one that would get into fights to protect me and acts like he doesn't care about anything."

The boat gave a lurch and they were sailing. Over the hum of the motors, the trio talked about meaningless things. But it was never meaningless things to them. Conversations should never be meaningless. They are all ways there for a reason. Gauge another's character through mannerisms and speech. Figure out how other people are doing. Relate things. Communication. However, for them, their "meaningless" conversation was there to stay away from the subject of Graveyard Island, or forget it completely.

They laughed, joked, and ran up and down the aisles a few times until the conductor told them to sit down or he'll drop them off at the next dock and leave them there. Kairi giggled over it as they sat back down on the bench until Sora got into her giggles and giggle too, having got caught up in the child-like disease that affects everyone until everyone in the world is laughing.

Things continued like this till they reached their port and hopped off. They fell silent, all preparing for the punishments sure to come.

"I'll see you all later," Riku split off from the other two at his street, waving until his arms grew tired and they were out of sight.

In books that he has read, the child's imagination (when plagued by guilt) would make the trek or the house seem larger than it normally was. None of this happened to Riku. Sighing, he pulled out his house key and opened the door. "I'm home!" He called out to no one.

His parent's were on a trip. Vacation that he helped pay for because they needed it. Tired and overworked, they're gone for well over two weeks to the continent. That was the reason why he didn't say anything about his possible punishment. He was never going to be punished.

Riku checked the message machine. Three calls: one from Kairi's foster parents, one from Sora's parents, and one from his own. The first two asking about their respective child and the last asking him to call back.

Riku obliged the last message and called his parents' cell phone.

"_Hi… Listen, I'm sorry I wasn't home last night… Um…" _He paused not sure of if he should say anything about the night before or not. "_…Just give me a call and I'll explain. I promise to not leave the house until you do. So, yeah… just call me… and I'll… never mind… Bye."_

How uncharacteristic, Riku thought. He was concerned that his parents might be worried about him. Normally they never entered the equations. Except for when he got grounded. That's when he cursed them and called them names and still escaped from the house.

That crushing depression came back and he had the sudden urge to cry. Why now? Why was he now upset that he was never really a "good son"? He felt like he missed his chance. Something's going to happen soon. It's going to change him and his parents will be left out of the equation again.

Shaking his head, Riku sat down on the couch and watched TV.

0000

Here's the translations to what Mr. Jenkins says:

_Su'tch ile fra'n_: (Literally: hang you balls) hang you by the balls

_Skillsh ile skin_: (Literally: quarter you body) quater your body.

_Spook:_ Spork

Words that I came up with, including the grammer structure.

Right now, I'm banging my head on the desk. Figuratively, of course. Don't want to lose more neurons than necessary. I hate this chapter, especially after they leave Mr. Jenkins's house. And they laughed/giggled/joked/etc waaaay too much. You can usually tell when I can't think of anything to write when I have those stupid conversations that come out of nowhere.

I will tell you that there are many things here that, if you look closely enough, will tell you what is going to happen in the future. Some things even I don't notice. For this fic, I'm aiming for an "everything is important" type of thing. Is it working so far?

Questions? Complaints? Comments? Just wanna see me cry over spilt milk? Then click on that purple button and off you go!

The Can-Can group


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